Melvin Gordon's Fantasy Outlook Trending in Wrong Direction Ahead of Week 7 Matchup With Titans

This time last year, Melvin Gordon was a fantasy football darling helping to carry many winning rosters across the country.

In Week 7 of the 2019 NFL season, however, Gordon has become a relative non-factor in the fantasy world. Even worse, he has brought the entire Los Angeles Chargers' offensive value down with him.

After missing the first four games due to a contract holdout, Gordon has appeared in the Chargers' last two contests – both losses. In those two games, Gordon has rushed the ball 20 times for a total of 49 yards and no touchdowns.

If you thought he might be able to make up for a poor rushing start by returning to his passing-game prowess, you were also mistaken, as he has seven receptions for just 37 yards.

What's, perhaps, worst in all of this is that the Chargers abandoned their stud running back from the first four games in Austin Ekeler to give Gordon his lead role back. Austin Ekeler was one of the top fantasy RBs in the league through Week 4, averaging more than 50 yards rushing per game, 60 yards receiving per game and scoring a total of six touchdowns. Last week, Ekeler had just eight touches for 28 yards.

Theoretically, this doesn't impact Gordon's fantasy outlook, except for the fact that the Chargers are spiraling after back-to-back losses. Given the recent struggles among all the AFC West teams, and the injury to Patrick Mahomes, Los Angeles still has a chance to make the playoffs. If Gordon doesn't perform well this week against the Tennessee Titans, then the Chargers may be inclined to turn things back over to Ekeler going forward.

Whether or not you like Gordon's matchup this week, his fantasy value certainly appears to be trending in the wrong direction, and there's a solid chance his backup ends up as the better fantasy player by the end of this season.

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Stuart Easton is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Stuart Easton also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username stueast13. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.